The Junior Minister for Karamoja Affairs, Agnes Nandutu, has handed herself over to the Police to be investigated for the Karamoja iron sheets scandal.
Nandutu never responded to the police summons on Friday and neither did she turn up at CID headquarters in Kibuli on Monday.
According to reports, Nandutu on Tuesday morning appeared at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations Kampala for more inquiries into the alleged diversion of iron sheets meant for the Karamoja sub-region.
“We summoned the minister of State for Karamoja Affairs, Agnes Nandutu, to reappear at CID headquarters to clarify certain additional areas of inquiry [into the Karamoja iron sheets scandal] but she did not turn up,” SCP Fred Enanga, the police spokesperson, told journalists on Monday.
Yesterday, the Minister of State for Planning, Amos Lugoloobi, was charged with dealing with suspect property contrary to Section 21A of the Anti-Corruption Act and remanded to Luzira Prison until Thursday.
Minister Lugoloobi is one of the ministers who last Friday returned iron sheets to the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM)’s stores in Namanve, following President Museveni’s orders to his ministers to return the irons sheets or pay in cash the equivalent of the value of items.
In February, the minister admitted to having used some of the iron sheets he received to roof a shed for his goats on his farm located in Misanga Village, Bbaale Sub-county in Kayunga District.
Meanwhile, Parliament’s committee on Presidential Affairs has wrapped up its probe and is drafting a report on the mismanagement of iron sheets and other relief items meant for the restive and impoverished Karamoja Sub-region.
The committee’s deputy chair, Naome Kabasharira, told Daily Monitor that they are ready to report after weeks of hearings into how a Shs39 billion supplementary budget allocated to the relief and economic empowerment programme “is feared to have been abused by officials”.